Building Your Pathfinder Society Community

Monday, October 22, 2012

Illustration by Guz Boroda

When I started playing Pathfinder Society more than 3 years ago, I realized the more I gave to it, the more I got from it and the more valuable it became to me. While it may not be a universal truth, I believe that when you work for something, you value it more than if it was just given to you. Also, I find that when you give back to your community, it too becomes stronger and more valuable.

Pathfinder Society Organized Play is a social, roleplaying game where people come together in public to enjoy our favorite pastime. Pathfinder Society is built upon this community. Even if you only play with friends at home, this group is your local gaming community.

In Georgia, I realized very quickly I couldn’t run Pathfinder Society on my own, especially if I wanted the community to grow it and make it better. With a large area spread out across the Atlanta metro area, I simply couldn’t make it to all the stores, meet all the players and store owners, recruit the GMs needed, and grow Pathfinder Society to the numbers I’d set as goals. This led me to being able to find a core group of store liaisons (today we call them Venture-Lieutenants) to help the community grow Pathfinder Society. Without the tireless efforts of Kyle and Nani Pratt, Joseph Caubo, Nicholas Gray, and John Compton, the community in Georgia wouldn’t be as strong as it is today. The first thing we did was work to get a website in place so that all interested gamers had a place to gather and plan future game days, chat about Pathfinder Society in general, and brag about their accomplishments. In hindsight, this was the foundation of building a strong community.

I was going to expand on how my Venture-Lieutenants’ contributions helped and were the foundation of one of the strongest player bases in the world, but that would take many more words. Instead, I am going to invite them to come here and share those experiences. They will do a much better job explaining their parts than I ever could. I will instead leave it at a simple thank you. Without all of their tireless efforts, we wouldn’t have a community in Georgia; we would just have many splintered groups of gamers.

"The Pathfinder Society Organized Play Campaign is a global gaming community that exists because of the efforts of volunteers just like you. In joining the Pathfinder Society Community, your contributions—whether GMing, aiding in organizing events, helping new players, or just sharing your enthusiasm—are an essential part of Pathfinder Society membership. You are strongly encouraged to add your efforts to make this campaign better. It cannot exist without you and together we can do great things."

Our gaming communities would not continue to exist without your contributions, which is why we are adding this to the Guide—to highlight how vitally important it is that everyone gives back to his or her local Pathfinder Society gaming community. Let me add, we at Paizo do not have any expectations about how you give back; we only request that you do so. Your local Pathfinder Society community might already have some ideas about what being a member entails.

Many of the challenges that Pathfinder Society communities face, such as a lack of GMs, can only be solved by the community members, and the successes that happen are a result of many people working together toward a common goal. You matter. Your ideas matter. Your contributions matter. Together we make things happen.

Let’s look at common ways to contribute to your Pathfinder Society community. This is in no way an exhaustive list. It is simply a list of common ways to give back:

Offer to GM. This one is first on the list because it is obviously the easiest and most important. There is a reason why we stress GMing so much. It’s a great way to give back to the community and become a better player while you do it. We have established GM 101 training sessions to encourage quality GMing and we hope that all of you will try spending some time behind the screen.

Organize gamedays and local conventions. Anyone can organize a gameday or small convention, not just Venture Captains and Lieutenants. All you need is to arrange the gaming space, secure the GMs, promote the event to get players, and then report it. It’s easy and provides a valuable service. You can become a local coordinator by coordinating a regular event, such as at a game store or even at home. Setting up new spaces on a regular basis provides new locations for players to play, and for new potential players to experience the community that Pathfinder Society offers and creates.

Help find and prepare new players for Pathfinder Society Organized Play. New players are the lifeblood of the Society. This very important as we will always have some attrition in the ranks. Spreading your enthusiasm by finding and teaching new Pathfinders what it means to be in the Society and helping promote your local events are of vital importance. If all you do is introduce one new player a month to the Society and your local playgroup, your Pathfinder Society community will grow stronger, and perhaps even become one of the most vibrant in the world.

You might be surprised who could be interested in Pathfinder Society. It’s the perfect vehicle for people who have busy working and home lives, and who can’t commit to a regular schedule, to still get their gaming fix. Talk openly and honestly about Pathfinder Society to people you come across, even if you don’t think they fit the typical bill of a gamer.

Other ways to contribute. The Pathfinder Society runs best when the environment is friendly and warm and people are recognized for their time and efforts. If you’re the person who is always bringing pizza and sodas to thank GMs, taking the time to help the local coordinator design flyers, offering to do the reporting after the events, or printing materials for your local group, you are doing your part. There are many ways to contribute.

I believe that our Society will be stronger as more and more of us give back to the Society. I have seen it happen in Georgia... the more voices we had, the better we were together.

This is important to me and our Society... and that’s why we are adding it to the Guide.

On a final note, tell us how you contribute, or plan to contribute, in your area’s lodge during Season 4. The more ideas we have to show people, the better off Pathfinder Society will be as a whole.

If this blog receives enough positive feedback, I think it could lead to a series of monthly blogs, each one getting into the details of the bullet points above or other similar topics. Let me know what you think and I look forward to reading your suggestions on building a better Pathfinder Society community.

I want to thank Eric Brittain (Venture Captain of San Diego), Nani Pratt (Co-Venture Captain of Atlanta), Joshua Archer (Venture Lieutenant of San Francisco), Jeff Kokx (aka Drogon), and Kyle Baird (as himself). Their feedback and help with this blog allowed me to get the above thoughts and message out and were invaluable in this week’s Pathfinder Society blog post.

I would love to see more posts on this topic! Organizing a game day seems like a huge deal, but once you get it going you realize it's actually a pretty straightforward process. On the other hand, I could definitely use some tips on GM recruitment! GMs are hard to come by, it seems.

To answer the blog, I haven't yet figured out how best I can help after moving to Milwaukee. I'm still looking for a new job here, but once I do, I can turn my attention to rolling some dice and having some fun.

I attended RockCon this weekend in Rockford, IL. The convention is traditionally for wargaming, but a local PFS enthusiast took it upon himself to change that. I want to thank Pete Kies for his enthusiasm and efforts to make RockCon a PFS friendly environment. Pete had set a goal of 4 tables per slot and I think we averaged 5. We issued about two dozen new PFS numbers and the convention staff practically begged us to do it again next year. It's efforts like this that really make this community what it is.

Nice post. Speaking of organizing local conventions, I will be emailing you shortly with details of a convention we are putting together here in Madison, WI. We are hoping to get a bit of support from Paizo beyond the excellent work our Venture people will be doing in terms of organizing the actual PFS component of the convention.

Great Blog Mike - As a store coordinator I agree that EVERYONE should give something back!

Patrick Harris @ SD wrote:

I would love to see more posts on this topic! Organizing a game day seems like a huge deal, but once you get it going you realize it's actually a pretty straightforward process. On the other hand, I could definitely use some tips on GM recruitment! GMs are hard to come by, it seems.

Patrick, we have a 'rule' at our FLGS that says players should judge every 6 or 8 times they play (so once or twice a quarter for those who play every week). It's a 'soft' rule and we've never kicked anyone out for NOT judging, but it makes it clear that playing is a privilege not a right.

Players who have just joined us get extra time to learn the system and get comfortable first naturally, and some folks who just aren't good at judging get a pass and help in other ways. We do NOT press anyone against the wall or make them feel 'lesser' for not judging.

However, once that mind-set is in place, most folks just naturally sign up on their own. For those few who 'forget' I find a direct request works wonders. I usually send an email so they don't have to be too embarrassed by a direct confrontation in person, but it depends on the person. VERY few will turn me down if asked directly and politely. :D

too long email sent out to Bay Area Pathfinders Society, due to said inspiration:

So, what did everyone else think of Mike's blog post today?

It made me want to do more, reach out more, and get those conversations started with our local group of players on how best to move forward in growing PFS in our area.

I thought about that, and thought about old players, new players, and the players yet to be, and I realized that we don't get perfect players coming through the doors; we have to take what we get and turn them into great players. This is an important part of building our lodge (at least in my mind) and it’s one I need to remember and wanted to share.

Some of our more experienced players (including me) get so frustrated with the new ones. They have poor etiquette and don't always do what's right. They may not know the rules, or realize that getting your own CLW wand is like announcing to your companions that you care enough to take care of yourself, “you're one of us”.

I get it, I really do, but attrition is a very real threat to the lodge; we'll have three tables, talking about four and in a few weeks we're scraping together one again. The biggest resource isn't the scenario or the map packs or dice; it's the people that come in the door every week. And the best thing we can do for us and for them is train them to be the players we want to play with.

I am not saying that urging someone from the group is never an option, but diamonds don't spring from the ground cut and polished and set, and excellent players aren't born (or hatched) Someone, somewhere, trained them. And now it's our turn.

How am I contributing? Well, I'm still pretty new to PFS. I played my first scenario in May and I played my 12th and last scenario in May. In June, I GMed my first scenario and having been organizing events at my FLGS and GMing ever since. I get a huge amount of satisfaction and enjoyment out of judging but our local PFS community is starting to outgrow just one regular GM.

As our local player base continues to grow, my next challenge is to recruit more folks to judge so that the players can have some GM variety and we can support larger events.

My contribution to this excellent blog post was tiny, but thank you for the mention, Mike.

For my own contribution to the Colorado community, I run a "Learn to Play Pathfinder" night at Enchanted Grounds that has seen a lot of success. Once per month I schedule a table specifically designated as Tier 1. Whether I use one of the First Steps, Master of the Fallen Fortress, or one of the many Tier 1-x options from the PFS scenario line, it is set up specifically to teach the Pathfinder Role Playing Game to new players. Due to the fact that it is sanctioned as a PFS game, and players and GMs will earn credit for playing, I am able to recruit GMs for the table from the local pool, as well as seat a "ringer" or two from the local players at the table to help with rules teaching. Inevitably we end up with a full table of walk-ins, and sometimes two, all brand-new players. The players always leave chattering about how much fun they had and looking forward to the next time they can play.

Of course, as it is an indoctrination of sorts to PFS, showing them when they can play next is pretty easy - we just point at the calendar in the store and when the PFS game days are scheduled. We often wind up with new, enthusiastic recruits to the local community. Obviously, this also works very well for getting new GMs to take on tables for the first time and show them the ropes, so to speak. Established players have even begun to point those friends of theirs who show interest in role playing toward this night.

It has seen enough success that I'm contemplating starting a "Learn to Play Magic/Warhammer/WarMachine/Insert-your-game-here Night." I don't know that I have that many nights available, is the only problem...

To answer the blog, I haven't yet figured out how best I can help after moving to Milwaukee. I'm still looking for a new job here, but once I do, I can turn my attention to rolling some dice and having some fun.

I attended RockCon this weekend in Rockford, IL. The convention is traditionally for wargaming, but a local PFS enthusiast took it upon himself to change that. I want to thank Pete Kies for his enthusiasm and efforts to make RockCon a PFS friendly environment. Pete had set a goal of 4 tables per slot and I think we averaged 5. We issued about two dozen new PFS numbers and the convention staff practically begged us to do it again next year. It's efforts like this that really make this community what it is.

welcome to the area, kyle. our games in janesville and madison are a bit of a drive from milwaukee, but you're more than welcome to play whenever you'd like. we're celebrating our one year anniversary of PFS in the area with lots of cool stuff all month long, so if you'd like to be a part of it, just let me know. also, i'll hopefully be starting up another game day a bit closer to you very soon (don't want to talk about it until it's finalized, though). plus, there are regular events at Games Universe in Greenfield, organized at least in part by our former VL for the area.

Get the store owners on board. They like it when people come in, becuase they get to sell you things. And when they're on board, they start inviting people to your event, and... well, it goes nuts.

The flip side of this is that people do need to buy things, and remember that this is someone's place of business, not a lending library or your buddy's back room. It is easy for folks meeting at a store to abuse the privelege. :-\

That said, you are absolutely correct - a game store owner can be your best ally in building a player base, since they see people all week long and know who is looking at the RPG stuff.

For my own contribution to the Colorado community, I run a "Learn to Play Pathfinder" night at Enchanted Grounds that has seen a lot of success. ...

I would be interested in learning a little more on this. Do you start everyone with a pre-gen? Do you spend time building characters? How do you get them the relevant info?

Specifically on this I want something to hand players with the basics. I have searched the threads for handouts and havenae found quite what I am looking for (these mostly talk about building a character & expectations). I want something for those before they are fully committed. Something with an overview of PFS & OP, Factions and Faction Missions, links (or rather directions to) PFS Guide, these boards (especially the aforementioned character gen stuff), PFS Monday Blogs, etc.. If anyone has anything like this already please point me in the right direction.

I have been "hosting" a 'PFS Moscow Lodge Convocation' (hosting meaning only one person has come & he is a part of my regular group :) This is intended to go over the stuff you do not have to do at the table (character gen, faction choosing, core assumption, feat choices, theory-crafting, boasting songs, errata, etc.) Players like to talk up their characters so I wanted to take advantage of it.

GMing every 6 games contributes immensely to the available pool and helps to ensure that GMs dont get burnt out. By contributing on that sixth game, you increase the liklihood that there will be someone avaiable who is excited to run the other 5 for you.

Other valuable contributions: recruit new players, welcome new players and help them have a great first game, bring snacks, thank the gm for his or her time and hard work. If they ran a great table, let them know. GMing can seem thankless...but it doesnt have to be that way.

I appreciate every Pathfinder who helps to create a positive experience whether at a game day, con or what have you. It creates an experience that players want to come back to. Heck, it creates an experience that *I* want to come back to.

Yeah, this is how Saint Louis got out of control, but you missed one point I think you should have added that worked really well for us.

What is how in St. Louis?

I believe the how is the community that we have built in St. Louis. Now to say that it happened out of thin air would be a lie, we have a "core" of people who have played in living campaigns for a long time and understand what it takes to build that community. We have some stellar GMs, including our Venture Captain, Brett Sweeney. We also had a cohort who set up a con all by themselves, called "Too Poor for Gen Con", which was a huge success. We also have a guy named Nathan King, who is an absolute work horse. He dived into GMing and is probably on his second or third Star since he started in Mayish. We also have a higher number of female players, allowing other female players to not feel so isolated. I am pretty sure that is why Adam used the term "got out of control", because it has, I know of nowhere else that can confidently muster 4-7 tables weekly.

Not to belittle your achievement, for which you should be proud, but I wanted to point out that in Redmond, WA, we consistently seat 4-6 tables on both Friday and Saturday at one store alone, and another 1-2 on Sunday afternoon at another down the street.

In my immediate vicinity (15-20 minutes travel) I have two stores that host PFS on a weekly basis, with 1 or 2 tables at each store. If I am prepared to travel further (up to an hour) there are at least five other PFS games every week (with at least two of those locations regularly running more than one table). That's over 10 tables a week to choose from!

I believe they mean tables per slot. Our Typical Fridays and Saturdays here in Redmond are single slot runs (except one Saturday a month where we run side by side with RPGA and do two slots which will usually net us 7-8 tables for the day just for PFS).

I would like to see some more GM 101 for new players who are interested in running games more.

I think maybe even doing something like a Beginner Box Bash (we had one last Halloween here) would be a good "Learn to Play" type thing. Sure, it wouldnt be completely PFS, but it does get people in the seats and if they get hooked, they will want to play more with folks.

For my own contribution to the Colorado community, I run a "Learn to Play Pathfinder" night at Enchanted Grounds that has seen a lot of success. ...

I would be interested in learning a little more on this.

Eek. Apparently I've been busier than I thoughr the last few weeks. No posts from me on any of these boards since October? Guess I'll have to feed my addiction a little...

Curaigh wrote:

Do you start everyone with a pre-gen? Do you spend time building characters? How do you get them the relevant info?

In Colorado we have a centralized board on Yahoo Groups that every organizer uses to do their organizing. Of course, that includes me; I announce each month's games after soliciting for GMs, about a week before that month begins (10ish days before the first game day in the store). One of the games that I announce is "Learn to Play Pathfinder" night. It is a single table that I set aside on a separate night (the third Thursday in the month - my normal game nights are Mondays and one Saturday per month).

This table is a game that I restrict to Tier 1-2 (or 1 with First Steps), and that I reserve space at for new players. The new players inevitably come from customer contact in the store, and we guide them to this night to learn the game they are interested in. I announce it on the local board because I like recruiting a couple "ringers" from the PFS community to help out with the rules explanations. A single GM can only do so much for a table full of players.

No, we don't just hand them a pre-gen. And no, sadly I cannot spend individual time building characters (though I've had separate events where I do that for groups in the store). Instead, I send each player an email with the list of stuff they need to know about the game (and PFS), including links to relevent books/documents so they know what they can do for character creation. About 1 in 5 players will make their own character. The others will play a pre-gen. Anyone who plays is also handed a character generation pamphlet in the store that goes over the basics of creating a character, so they can have their own PC if they want to continue with PFS.

By the way, that last point is kind of key. I use this to teach the PFRP game, not just to teach PFS. It is a subtle way of introducing players to organized play, and about 20% of the players we've introduced have actually made the jump, so far. But that is not a stricture. Sure, I assign them a PFS number and explain the process, but it is not an expectation that they continue with PFS in order to be part of the table.

This accomplishes, obviously, recruitment of players. As I use older scenarios to run this table, it also gives veterans a chance to play scenarios they don't see very often, but have missed during their career. Likewise, those veterans are involved in teaching new players "the ropes" so to speak, and often gets them further interested in GMing (as this table is also excellent for brand new GMs - what better way to begin GMing than to have a table of people who have hardly ever role played?). But, most importantly, it teaches people the game. This is what I am really after. Getting them into PFS is the gravy in this particular dish.

Curaigh wrote:

Specifically on this I want something to hand players with the basics.

We've been talking about this in Colorado for a while. Our local VC has been working on this since being recently promoted, and we're hoping to have something that works by the next big local convention (Genghis Con in February). When we have it, I'll be happy to send it to you for you to get ideas. But, yes, I really want something with all that information in bullet points. Essentially, I want something for my staff to hand people who come into the store who are interested, but gun-shy about joining the "newbie" table.

Curaigh wrote:

I have been "hosting" a 'PFS Moscow Lodge Convocation' (hosting meaning only one person has come & he is a part of my regular group :) This is intended to go over the stuff you do not have to do at the table (character gen, faction choosing, core assumption, feat choices, theory-crafting, boasting songs, errata, etc.) Players like to talk up their characters so I wanted to take advantage of it.

Keep it up, friend. One of the things I tell anyone who asks me about starting PFS in their stores is that it takes time. You will get nights with no one, and then be surprised the next time with a dozen people showing up. It will be inconsistent for a while, but will eventually turn into a regular thing, so long as you always offer the night, always keep it on the same night and time, and always show up yourself. One thing I would really like to stress about this is that you have a centralized way of communicating. Whether by email, message board, group, or town crier, make sure that you have a way of getting everyone to know what is going on and when.

Hopefully I helped answer some of your questions (and sorry about how long this took me to see). If you are interested in other details, feel free to send me a private message.

As a relatively new GM and coordinating my own PFS group here in my area, I would welcome any and all information that can help me to become a better GM and event coordinator. I am curious about the GM 101 training sessions you spoke of as well as the character creation guide. Anything that you would be willing to share will not only be welcomed but appreciated.

As we are well into season 4, I am hoping to grow our community to the point where we take over the entire upper floor of our FLGS and expand to more than just the two stores we have here in town (there are at least two more that I am aware of locally). Thank you for this blog post and I look forward to future postings.

As a relatively new GM and coordinating my own PFS group here in my area, I would welcome any and all information that can help me to become a better GM and event coordinator. I am curious about the GM 101 training sessions you spoke of as well as the character creation guide. Anything that you would be willing to share will not only be welcomed but appreciated.

As a relatively new GM and coordinating my own PFS group here in my area, I would welcome any and all information that can help me to become a better GM and event coordinator. I am curious about the GM 101 training sessions you spoke of as well as the character creation guide. Anything that you would be willing to share will not only be welcomed but appreciated.

Just wait until next Monday's PFS blog then :-)

Excellent!!! I am very much looking forward to next Monday's Blog now...

It sad in my area (conway/Myrtle beach SC), no-one ever get involve in such games like Pathfinder system. I wish more poeple would get involve. I am one of those are dieing to join in one of these games.

Salarain, sometimes one has to take the bull by the horns. You may want to start by getting a game night set up with a FLGS to try to generate interest. This may involve you having to GM to start but once you get enough of a player base and bank of GMs, you may get some sessions where you will have the opportunity to play as well as GM.

+1 to what Preston said, Salarain. But I also wanted to add that there may be people playing nearby that you are unaware of. Not every game gets posted to the Events page, but if you go to somewhere like the SCARAB convention you may meet people that are closer to you than you think. Even if you only attend for 1 day, you can make connections that can help you get PFS going near you.

There are actually several players in the Myrtle Beach area that regularly drive to various SCARAB events and I am sure they are coming to the event in December and I know they are coming to the convention in January. If you would like I can put you in touch with them. PM me if you are interested.

The handout I created. I think there will be another one with character gen or the two will be combined. This is a cut and paste from the word document which has the PFS logo in the corner. Any suggestions would be welcome. :)

Spoiler:

Where to start? There are lots of different answers, but I like to start with the core rule: Play Play Play. First check out the Pathfinder Society (PFS) page. Go to Paizo.com and click on this logo (left hand menu).

What should you play? Whatever is the most fun to you. Every week a different group of Pathfinders will be called to complete a different scenario. Since you never know what characters will show, it doesn’t matter what you play. Play what you want to play. The Pathfinder Core Rulebook (CRB) has 10 core classes. Though other books have other classes, you can make a completely balanced (& more importantly a fun!) character with just the CRB. To preserve the balance, and to keep the PFS theme, some options are restricted. If you want to play with other books, make sure to check the Additional Resources Guide (http://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/about/additionalResources) before you start. If you are still unsure, stop by. There are a number of pre-generated characters on hand. We are always ready to play.

While you are on the PFS page, under the player’s resources, make sure to download a copy of the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play. It’s free and covers creating a character, uniqueness of organized play, scenarios, and how to find a game. It also covers rules special to PFS like traits, factions, prestige & fame, experience, gear, and chronicles. All of which I will be happy to cover whenever you want to. Stop by SHOP NAME & NUMBER.

Also, after almost three years, and a regular meeting time all semester long, we finally got enough people to play a scenerio. It dinnae go well (TPK, & ran out of time) but it did go & we are set up for the next one :)

Well, since you are just starting out, I would recommend playing the First Steps scenarios. TPK is still possible, but not very likely.

On the Play Play Play thing, that particular phrasing is long gone from the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, much to Dragnmoon's relief. However, the target of PFSOP is for everyone to have fun.

Duly noted and I made the change. I dinnae find anything to replace it, going through the guide. Did i miss it? 'Do not be a jerk' was pretty high up there, but I dinnae want to make it look like dealing with jerks is the biggest concern.

It was not a total TPK. Given time everone would have recovered but with three down and 4:1 odds would have made it 4:0). The first scenerio I ever bought, Frozen Finger of Midnight. (three level one pregens, three players and a rogue who insisted on splitting the party. We did have fun which is the good part. :)